By Lucy Caulkett-
Engineer has been jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 29 years in prison for murdering his wife and 11-year-old stepdaughter in an episode of “wanton savagery”.
Evil Christopher Boon, 28, stabbed wife Laura Mortimer and her daughter Ella Dalby multiple times in the kitchen of their home in Dexter Way, Gloucester, on May 28.
Boon had sustained a serious injury to his hand a few days earlier when he punched a hole in a wall and told Laura: ‘That was meant for your face’,” Mr Smith said.
Bristol Crown Court heard Ms Mortimer “fought for her life” after being attacked by Boon, her helpless daughter Ella bravely coming downstairs to assist her. In one of the worst cases of domestic violence in the Uk in recent years, Ms Mortimer suffered multiple wounds.
She sustained 18 stab wounds, including 13 to her face and neck, while Ella had 24 separate stab wounds over her body. Ten days later, Ms Mortimer had gone out to the pub with friends and said her husband was not happy as she had asked him to leave the house within two weeks.
“Some time in the following three hours, the defendant attacked and killed both his wife and her daughter Ella,” Mr Smith said.
CRUEL
The judge said Boon had committed the murders in “an act of selfish rage and cruelty”.He had a previous conviction of nine months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, after being convicted of assault, battery and criminal damage on a previous partner and her mother in 2010.
Richard Smith QC told the court Boon and Ms Mortimer had been married for five years, with Ella living with them in their home. He narrated an incidence of violence that had occurred in 2014 to provide some relevant history to this act of violence. Smith told the court that on Boxing Day, 2014, Ms Mortimer had run to a neighbours’ house wearing only her underwear and in a “hysterical” state, claiming Boon had hit her.
Although police were contacted, Ms Mortimer did not co-operate with efforts to prosecute him. This is often the downfall of women who suffer domestic violence in the hands of their abusers- fear to prosecute. Women have paid a fatal price in many such cases, and Ms Mortimer is another sad and horrifying example.
Mortimer (left), was killed by Boon, (right)
“Having heard matters dramatically unfold in the kitchen, Ella got out of her bed and bravely came to the help of her mother.
“Eleven-year-old Ella must have witnessed, in part at least, the murderous attack on her mother before Boon also attacked his stepdaughter.”Both mother and daughter had several injuries from where they had tried to protect themselves from Boon’s “unspeakable savagery”, Mrs Justice May said.
“Blood found on Ella’s feet leads to the inference that she must have come in when her mother was already bleeding,” the High Court judge said.
“She would have witnessed some part of your murderous attack on her mother and tried to stop you before you turned the knife on her.“What a brave girl. She and her mother were found lying together, side by side when they died.
“Your wanton savagery has blighted the lives of many forever.”
Photograph: Gloucestershire Police